Wednesday, July 24, 2002

James Brosnahan, attorney for John Walker Lindh, on his client and September 11, in Newsweek:

He had nothing to do with it. Nothing. You do not attack civilians based on the Qur’an. You don’t commit suicide based on the Qur’an. As it became more and more clear that Osama bin Laden had done all of this, John wanted to get out of [Afghanistan]. He wanted to go home. But he couldn’t for fear of death. You don’t hail a cab when you’re fighting with the Taliban up there.

Brosnahan is more than a little paranoid, blaming the brouhaha about his client on a post-9/11 squelching of civil liberties. I mean, this guy was with the Taliban. Still, it's worth pointing out that until about last October, the Taliban, though not on our Easter basket list, was not an avowed enemy of the U.S. as was the Al Qaeda mob. People are acting as though this guy was having beers with Osama, or worse.